36Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there." 37And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me."
39He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."
40Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
42Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done." 43And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.
44So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 45Then He came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. ??Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand."
This text raises more questions for me than it answers. From the Passover Feast where Jesus told them that one of them would betray Him, they went to the Mount of Olives, where Jesus told them that they would all be made to stumble because of Him. Now they came to the Garden of Gathsemane. Footnotes in my Bible say that Gathsemane means oil press. It suggested that the Garden of Gathsemane was a walled in olive garden which included a press for crushing oil from the olives.
At what point did Judas leave them? Did he leave them back during the Passover feast? If so, with all their moving around, how did Judas find them again so easily. Were they trying to hide from Judas by going to the Mount of Olives then entering a walled in garden?
Jesus left His disciples in one spot of the garden then took three of His disciples with Him, asking them to sit and watch with Him. Watch for what? I had always thought before it was to watch Him pray, or to watch for something supernatural to happen: for example, the great tempter, as Jesus’ flesh was weak, or angels to come to their aid. But this really doesn’t fit the story well. If Judas left them awhile ago, they probably knew that Judas was the one who was going to betray Him. So I wonder if He really meant to watch for Judas. Were they to stand guard at the gateway to the walled in garden. Were they to watch for trouble when it arrived with Judas?
Imagine being with your very dear friend, who is exceeding sorrowful and deeply distressed. First of all, you would want to do whatever you could to help that friend. And if that friend asked you to keep watch for trouble that you knew would be his destruction, there is no way you would have fallen asleep. But His disciples did. Even though I have a tough time staying awake at night, I couldn’t imagine falling asleep if I were one of these disciples in this situation. Their adrenaline would be flowing. They would help to keep each other awake. Is this the stumble that Jesus said they would be made to do? Did they fail in their attempt to keep watch to protect Jesus because they were made to stumble? I couldn’t imagine them failing at this unless they were made to do it.
Yes, Jesus said to watch and pray lest they fall into temptation, that the spirit is willing but the flesh is week. Is He talking about them or Himself? Yes, they would fall into the temptation to sleep, for even though they really wanted to help their friend and Lord, their flesh was week, and their eyes were heavy.
But I think Jesus is showing concern for His own weakness of the flesh too. His spirit was willing. He knew what He was supposed to do. But His flesh wanted the cup to pass. And what cup was that? The cup of death? I had originally assumed He was talking of the cup of death, because He said He was exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. I thought this meant He was sorrowful about his upcoming death. But now I wonder if that was simply an expression of how sorrowful He was: such a deep sorrow that it felt like death.
Actually, Jesus knew of the life that awaited Him after His death. He has been helping His disciples prepare for it for so long, it seems like it would take quite a weakness for Jesus to fear His death now. But if it wasn’t fear of His death, what would it be fear of? I wonder if it is the cup of sin that He must bear. Now, I can imagine that would be indeed overwhelming to shoulder all that sin that Jesus was going to have to take for His own. I could imagine that making Him exceedingly sorrowful and deeply distressed. I could imagine this man who knew no sin to recoil from all that sin. He prayed that the cup could pass by. But with every prayer, He also said that God’s will be done. Yes, Jesus’ flesh was weak, but His spirit was willing.
Was Jesus tempted? Was He hiding from Judas? Was He setting the grounds for Him to avoid His death? Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if their goal for going this route and ending up in this remote garden may have been to avoid Judas for a little while. And He may have even posted His disciples as guards to watch for Judas. But I don’t think it was because Jesus was tempted to avoid the outcome. I think Jesus just needed time to talk to His Father, to express His very real, very human, concerns. It is through that time in prayer that Jesus was able to come out calmly to face what must come next. For He woke them so He could be taken into the hands of His betrayer.
I think His reprimand of His disciples falling to the temptation to sleep might have stemmed from His own struggle with the weakness of the flesh that made Him dread the cup that must come to Him. He is trying so hard to not satisfy the weakness of His own flesh, for He was very human too, when none of His disciples were able to avoid the weakness of their flesh.
Jesus seemed to get angry with His disciples when they couldn’t stay awake with Him. Does Jesus get angry with us when we fall to the weakness of our flesh? Remember, He is the one who will bear the weight of our sin when we do fail. Why should He have to take that on when we let our weaknesses take over? But I think that when Jesus was showing this frustration with His disciples was when He was struggling with His human side. I think after long and hard prayer with God, He managed to come to terms with that frustration. In the end, He didn’t punish them. He simply woke them to go with Him to His betrayer. In the end, I think He will simply take me with all my failings, but the lesson here is that I really don’t want to be one to add to that great burden that Jesus had to bear on the cross. I read what He went through that night. I feel great sorrow that part of that is due to me. I don’t want to make Him go through that for my failings, but He will.
Jesus understands fear, dread, weakness of the flesh. He has demonstrated what we must do. We must pray to God. It is OK to ask that we be spared what we see ahead, but we should always ask for God’s will to be done. Jesus had the strength to make it though that mountain of sin that He had to endure. He has the strength to help us with our little molehill of a problem. But we must see to it that our spirit is willing. There are times that we will stumble due to our own weaknesses. And there are times that we may even be made to stumble. But if our spirit is willing, Jesus will help us to do God’s will, even when the flesh is weak.